It’s no secret that money attracts money, and cryptocurrency investors know this best of all. Cryptocurrency has become the go-to choice for investors looking to make big bucks in short amounts of time, leading to an incredible rise in crypto prices over the past few years that hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. The question remains, though, which cryptocurrency will offer the best bang for your buck? Here are our top 10 picks.
1.Investing in Bitcoin
There are plenty of reasons you might want to invest in Bitcoin, but for most people, it comes down to a few simple math problems. That’s because mining Bitcoins—the process of generating new units of currency by solving complex mathematical problems—requires lots of expensive hardware and electricity. Mining one Bitcoin takes an estimated 14 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, according to Alex de Vries, who tracks energy consumption for Digiconomist. That’s about as much electricity as 3 million U.S. households use in a year, or enough to power more than 400,000 homes. In other words: It takes an awful lot of effort and money just to create something that has zero intrinsic value—at least right now. But as cryptocurrencies continue to make their way into our lives—and especially if they begin taking up an even larger portion of our financial lives—it’s worth figuring out which ones we should spend our hard-earned money on. If you’re thinking about buying any kind of cryptocurrency, there are three things worth considering before pulling out your credit card: where you buy them; how long they take to mine; and how likely they are to continue rising in value.
2. Investing in Ethereum
The future of cryptocurrency has arrived. Bitcoin has taken investors on an exciting, but often bumpy, ride since its 2009 inception. The king of cryptocurrencies will continue to rise for years to come as demand for an alternative medium of exchange increases and global markets become more integrated. In 2017 alone, it increased by over 3,000 percent in value. That is why it’s no surprise so many other entrepreneurs are entering into the space with alternative coins that have even better technology than bitcoin itself. For example, Ethereum is a platform that allows people to code their own decentralized applications (Dapps) and smart contracts via cryptocurrency tokens called Ether. This platform works on its own blockchain separate from Bitcoin’s blockchain. Like bitcoin, ether can be bought and sold on exchanges like Coinbase or GDAX. But unlike bitcoin, which was originally designed primarily as a digital currency for payments, ether was created specifically as a fuel to power Dapps and other functionality on its network. Since it launched in 2015, dozens of businesses have adopted ether tokens or built their own around them. They could not only disrupt traditional industries such as financial services (payments), energy consumption, or real estate but also change how new companies are created online; essentially replacing company shares with cryptocurrency tokens instead. Etherum users believe they already make up 30% of all developers working today! For now, Ethereum remains one of the most promising cryptocurrencies out there and seems likely to break out soon; keep your eye on it!
3. Investing in Dash
In Q1 2017, Dash experienced a spike from $11.19 on January 1st to $117.04 on April 1st, representing a 1433% increase during that period alone. With a market cap reaching over $4 billion USD, it is currently ranked 7th and has already been accepted as payment by more than 200 vendors and businesses worldwide – including such industries as legal services, dental practice, automotive dealerships, and home healthcare companies. Because of its rapid growth in value and adoption rate among businesses around the world, cryptocurrency experts are calling Dash the next Bitcoin. If you believe in its potential for future value growth then investing at least a portion of your portfolio into Dash will likely provide you with substantial returns down the road.
4. Investing in Ripple
There are few altcoins on earth that have had as dramatic an impact on cryptocurrency markets as Ripple. Its price is up more than 100,000% in 2017 and continues to generate huge interest from investors looking for high ROI options. Ripple can only be purchased using other cryptocurrencies right now, so if you don’t already own some Bitcoin or Ethereum, it may be a bit trickier to get your hands on some XRP tokens. Here’s everything you need to know about Ripple. If you want to invest in Ripple, here’s what you should do: Buy some bitcoin or ether on Coinbase by going through our guide here. Then go over to Binance, which supports many different alternative coins including XRP. On Binance, trade your BTC or ETH for XRP using either of two methods: 1) Withdraw BTC/ETH from Coinbase into your account on Binance.
5. Investing in Monero
Privacy coins have gotten a lot of attention lately due to their appeal to many cryptocurrency users. There’s often no public record of transactions, and investors like that because it means they can make transfers without having anyone else know about them. Monero is one of these privacy coins. But unlike other privacy coins (such as Zcash or Dash), Monero puts privacy front and center: The level of anonymity Monero offers is unmatched by any other cryptocurrency. This coin has a lot going for it right now, so if you’re looking for an investment with long-term potential, consider investing in Monero.
6. The Next Big Thing – EOS Coin
EOS is one of my favorite cryptocurrency investments for a few reasons. For starters, it has a built-in governance system that allows users to vote on major decisions, like how to upgrade and improve their network, similar to an online government. It also has a huge incentive for investors: if you hold EOS tokens for at least two years and then decide to sell them off, you can take half of your initial investment off the table tax-free (the other half will be taxed as capital gains). Not too shabby! And since we’re going on about taxes for a second here: EOS is an international company with no real ties to the U.S.
7. A more unique cryptocurrency – Cardano Coin (ADA)
Launched last year, Cardano is a decentralized public blockchain and cryptocurrency project that provides advanced features like smart contracts. IOTA (MIOTA): Launched in 2015, IOTA uses a directed acyclic graph (DAG) ledger rather than a standard blockchain. Instead of using proof-of-work mining as Bitcoin does, IOTA makes use of tip transactions. That’s right – there are no miners; all of these transactions occur via user-to-user transfers. Dogecoin (DOGE): Launched back in 2013 as a joke currency for gifting between friends, Dogecoin has since become one of the most popular cryptocurrencies on exchanges. While it doesn’t have many practical applications, it can be used for tipping users on forums or social media channels that typically accept only coins with higher market caps. NeuCoin (NEU): With lower transaction fees than Ethereum and more security against hacking attempts, NeuCoin is also incredibly energy efficient when compared to many other digital currencies out there. NEO (NEO): A next-generation cryptocurrency system developed in China and often called China’s Ethereum, NEO aims to provide reliable digital identity solutions by enabling digitized assets such as physical property rights and even equity shares to be securely recorded onto its blockchain network.
8. What Is Stratis Coin?
Stratis is a blockchain-based platform that allows developers to create their own apps using C# and. NET. These apps are also capable of being used on private or public blockchains, making Stratis similar to Ethereum. It’s purpose-built for enterprise adoption, which means it has features for corporate governance and sidechains for added security. It also boasts one of the most active communities out there with over 250,000 members already signed up on Slack. This community lends another level of legitimacy that you don’t always see with cryptocurrencies, especially ones created just a few years ago.
9. Privacy on the Blockchain with Zcash
In addition to preserving your anonymity, Zcash also protects you against malicious uses of blockchain analysis techniques. And since all transactions on Zcash are private by default, it’s possible to shield your transaction data from any third parties as well. (Note: you can also set a Bitcoin transaction to be shielded, but that isn’t on by default.) Additionally, Zero-Knowledge proofs enable cryptocurrency users with encrypted wallets—like Bitpay for example—to prove payments without revealing their identities or other transaction details such as amounts and addresses. This innovation represents an improvement over existing payment systems for merchants and customers alike who don’t have access to one another’s information prior to a transaction occurring.
10. Solana Best competitor of Ethereum
While Solana is considered a potential competitor of Ethereum, it actually has less in common with ETH than you might think. While it’s true that both are platforms for building decentralized applications, Solana takes a very different approach. For starters, Solana doesn’t require mining, instead of relying on proof-of-stake (PoS) and a modified version of Tendermint consensus. PoS systems have numerous benefits over traditional mining models including much lower energy requirements and theoretically better security (if implemented correctly). In order to make sure that these claims hold up over time, Solana has also been designed with formal verification—basically, an automated way to prove that code matches its specifications without having to run actual programs. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are based on Proof-of-Work (PoW), which requires miners to solve complex mathematical problems before they can create new coins or alter transactions stored in a blockchain. This system increases overall decentralization but comes at a high cost, including huge amounts of electricity used by miners, which could ultimately end up costing more than all other expenditures combined. In addition, because they use PoW algorithms rather than PoS ones, blockchains built using them cannot easily be modified or hard forked like newer versions of Bitcoin can. If one wants to roll out changes—say if developers discover a critical bug—they need everyone running their network software to upgrade immediately or risk being forked off from other users who continue along their previous path unscathed.
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